


hey there, jolene

by zepuffer



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cute, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Romantic Fluff, Song Lyrics, let's go lesbians let's go, very light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23339845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zepuffer/pseuds/zepuffer
Summary: delilah has a boyfriend, but he is in love with jolene.jolene is in love with delilah, but she has a boyfriend.delilah is a lesbian, but she doesn't know that yet.it will take a breakup, a spotify discover weekly playlist, and her brother's band to get delilah and jolene to acknowledge their feelings.
Relationships: But Only Briefly - Relationship, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 22
Kudos: 41





	hey there, jolene

**Author's Note:**

> so i kinda. went into a frenzy and wrote this in like three hours
> 
> inspired by this cover/mashup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emAXiAsyFmQ
> 
> i suggest looping this playlist while you read for extra fun: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU9tv3SIqCXcr6WTvjgNUkqidZvRIn7JK
> 
> or just listen to She by dodie on repeat that works too
> 
> this is my first fic so i am bEgging u to comment and tell me what u liked and what sucked

Delilah ached.

She ached something fierce, a rubber band-ball of emotions, tightly strung and wound together, occasionally picking at a bit of frustration, or a thread of exhaustion, never touching the feelings deepest in the center of her, the ones that would unravel her if she pulled too hard on them.

Those emotions that had _her_ name written on them, all over them in her flowing, looping script that looked as carefree as _she_ was.

Delilah knew she was, at best, a six, maybe six and a half out of ten. But she was perfect.

Her smile was like a breath of spring, and her voice was like soft, warm summer rain. She had flaming auburn hair, and freckles across her face like a perfect splatter of paint, and eyes the color of polished emeralds.

Jolene.

Everyone wanted her. Including Delilah’s boyfriend.

He mumbled her name in his sleep, and Delilah could not help but cry.

She could beg and plead with her, but in the end, she’d lose; Delilah knew. Jolene was beautiful, she was beyond compare.

Sometimes Delilah wondered if-

Her phone was ringing.

“Hi, Jake!”

“. . .”

“No, I understand.”

“. . .”

“Alright. Well. Goodbye Jake.”

They hung up.

She sobbed. At least now, it was done. Maybe it was like ripping a band-aid off, better to just get it over with, or like a good vomit, feeling immensely better after it was all over.

It was a good thing she’d already finished her homework. She didn’t think she could have done any more of it.

Delilah cried herself to sleep.

~

Jolene burned.

She burned with red-hot anger, burned with laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe; burned herself on the stove and hot pans.

Jolene burned for Delilah.

She had eyes the color of milk chocolate, and her tan skin was perfectly smooth. When she smiled, truly smiled, she got a dimple in her right cheek, and when she put her long, dark hair in a bun, Jolene’s chest felt tight, as if it couldn’t decide whether to burst or collapse.

But Delilah had a boyfriend.

And she’d never be Jolene’s.

~

From the outside, nothing had changed.

It was just a girl, wearing shitty dollar store headphones, waiting for the bus.

But something had, in fact, changed.

It had been Spotify’s fault, really. It was four days after Jake had broken up with her, and she was waiting for the 66 bus to school. Listening to her discover weekly, like she did every Monday. The playlist went from Bears in Trees, to Cavetown, to Dodie.

Delilah had never heard a song like “She” before.

_Am I allowed to look at her like that?_

_Could it be wrong_

_When she's just so nice to look at?_

It was a woman. Singing, broadcasting her love to the world. Her love for another woman.

It was beautiful.

_And she smells like lemongrass and sleep_

She smelled like crisp, fresh air, like sticking your face in a dandelion on a perfect summer day.

_She tastes like apple juice and peach_

She’d taste like freshly squeezed, homemade orange juice, and crisp, perfectly ripe plums fresh from the fridge.

_Oh, you would find her in a Polaroid picture_

She would be in more than a polaroid picture, she’d be on magazines, and on tv. She was gorgeous.

_And she…_

_Means everything to me_

She did.

She did.

Jolene did.

~

Delilah loved to sing. She had perfect pitch, but didn’t mention it often. And she didn’t sing for anyone but herself and her brother. She also played acoustic guitar.

Her brother was in a band with some of his classmates. They sang strange, alternative rock, along with classics like Queen and The Beatles. Delilah would come to their practices, where she learned to play guitar from José, the band’s guitarist.

She’d learned guitar, and had often joined in with the band, but she’d never sung.

She knew she was a good singer, she just. . . hadn’t gotten around to singing with anyone else.

But Dodie had a lovely guitar tutorial for her song, and the melody was simple enough.

Why not?

~

Jolene was, quite frankly, rubbish at anything musical, but she loved to listen.

Her walk home from school passed by a house with a large garage, where some older boys from her school would practice for their band. She always stopped to listen in; they practiced with the garage door open.

They usually played some obscure song she hadn’t heard of, but occasionally they’d play the Beatles; something she was ever familiar with.

They weren’t playing the Beatles today.

They weren’t playing at all.

Delilah was playing.

And singing.

_Oh, oh_

_I'd never tell_

_No, I'd never say a word_

_And oh, it aches_

_But it feels oddly good to hurt_

It hurt, it _burned_ in her lungs, but Delilah was right. It felt strangely good to burn.

_And she smells like lemongrass and sleep_

_She tastes like apple juice and peach_

_Oh, you would find her in a Polaroid picture_

_And she…_

_Means everything to me_

Jolene crossed the street; she was right in front of the house now.

_And I'll be okay_

_Admiring from afar_

_'Cause even when she's next to me_

_We could not be more far apart_

_And she tastes like birthday cake and storytime and fall_

_But to her_

_I taste of nothing at all_

But that wasn’t true, Jolene knew that wasn’t true, Delilah was cookie dough ice cream, and fresh mint leaves from the back garden, and whoever Delilah was singing about had to taste it too. There was no way anyone could think Delilah was bland, flavorless, there was no way anyone could think Delilah was nothing.

She was everything.

~

Delilah finished singing with a smile on her face. She had never felt so at peace, so free.

She slowly opened her eyes to see someone standing on the sidewalk in front of the garage.

Jolene.

Here. Listening to her sing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her brother yelling, and pouncing on her, trapping her in a bone-crushing hug.

He looked over at Jolene looking at Delilah, and back at Delilah who was looking at Jolene.

He glanced at Delilah with knowing eyes, giving her a wink and a nudge in Jolene’s direction.

Then, he rounded up the band, they closed the garage door, and kept practicing inside the garage.

Delilah sighed. Her brother was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

She looked behind her to see Jolene almost around the corner.

Delilah knew what she had to do.

“Jolene!”

~

“Jolene!”

Jolene whirled around.

Delilah ran up to her, a real, dimple-filled smile on her face.

“Hi.”

Jolene let out a string of consonants that had supposedly started life as a fully-formed word, but mutated, and got horribly lost along the way.

Jolene opened her mouth to try again, and found that she couldn’t. It most likely had something to do with the fact that Delilah was kissing her.

Wait.

Kissing. Her?

By the time Jolene’s brain had unfrozen and caught up to reality, Delilah had pulled back and was spewing apologies as fast as her mouth would take her.

Jolene didn’t trust herself to not blurt out more gibberish, but clearly Delilah had misunderstood, which was unacceptable, so Jolene reached out and grabbed one of Delilah’s wildly gesticulating hands, and held it tight.

This seemed to stop Delilah’s panic, as she was now grinning so wide it looked as if her face would crack in half.

“Oh.”

Jolene smiled softly.

“Yeah. Oh.”

**Author's Note:**

> thx 4 reading!!!!!
> 
> again, PLEASE comment what you liked and didn't like. if there are any lines that sound bad, tell me! if there was a line that u thought slapped, tell me! i thrive off your feedback uwu
> 
> also if u haven't already go listen to She by dodie because it is a solid bop


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